Archive for January, 2014

Sometimes, our helpful players aren’t just players, they’re trusty folks with a heartfelt investment in Munzee. This week’s player of the week is always there to chat up new players, teach them about the workings of Munzee, network/help out with Munzee events, and of course, provide them with essential Munzee supplies. This week’s Player of the Week is Ken Kellar, aka Kenlaur!

Who are you? Kenlaur

Where in the world do you live? Frankford, Ontario Canada

How long have you played Munzee? About 1 1/2 years

How did you find Munzee? I read something about a new geolocation gamecalled Munzee in a Geocaching log. I did a web search for Munzee and checked the website to see how many where in my area. I only found 4 within a 200 km radius and all fairly close to me. Unfortunately I only had a Windows Phone (no Windows app back then) so had to wait until I got a new phone which I did shortly after. I quickly started growing the area map to attract new players and have been hooked ever since.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?

I enjoy getting out and growing the map, meeting other Munzee players, and teaching new players about Munzee. I also enjoy ClanWars in which I sponsor Team Geohobbies. Its great to have a goal each month to push for.

A recent highlight was meeting Team Munzee (Rob and TJ) in Niagara Falls Ontario in October 2013 at the Munzee Crosses the border event where we had players come from as far away as Quebec to join in.

What is on your wish list?
I’m very happy with how the game is progressing so far. So if I had to pick something that would make the game easier is to have a breakdown of what type of Munzees we have deployed in our weekly summary, and maybe regional leaderboards.

Tell us about yourself!

My real name is Ken Kellar aka Kenlaur, and I am the owner of www.geohobbies.ca which is an authorized Munzee retailer. I work as a Medic for a local ambulance service, and run my own medical response company. Here’s my Social Munzee!

I get out and Munzee whenever I can with my Girlfriend Laura (who was the “Laur” of Kenlaur until she opened her own Munzee account under the trailname Lauralin). I also get out with Mike (Staygold678) locally, and Jake and Mark (MunzeeRailfan – 1st ever POTW, and Canadaian Zombie) whenever I get up to their area.

Be sure to check out Geohobbies for all your international Munzee needs! Ken was nice enough to share the official Geohobbies Social Munzee with us. You can cap it below:

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com -Please note, this is a super active campaign. We may not be able to get back to everyone, but you’re helping to grow the list of amazing people in the Munzee community!

It’s February! This is the month when athletes, countries, and nations join together and go for the gold. The unity and sportsmanship have inspired us to have the Inaugural Munzee Olympics!

Represent the best of the best and choose your nation. Proudly compete against fellow Munzee players and rise as a Champion!

The Munzee Olympics will be made up of various competitions, we encourage all nations to participate in all the events.

The nitty-gritty details:

Choose your nation: Begins February 1— 00:01 MHQ (GMT -6) — Ends February 6— 23:59 MHQ (GMT -6)
Choose your competition: Players are not enrolled in every competition. You must enroll in the “sport” you excel in (compete in the games you think best suit your Munzee style). Note: You can choose a maximum of 5 events.

(que grand trumpet noise) And now to announce the Munzee Olympic game events! Here are the sport categories you can compete in:

Points System: Each event will be scored by the actions necessary divided by the number of players for the nation. Example: Ice, 42 Diamonds capped by a total of 7 players = 6 points for the nation. Triathlon: 72 green, 56 virtual, 25 mystery capped by 5 players = 25 / 5 = 5 points for nation.

The games begin February 7 at 00:01 MHQ (GMT -6) and end February 23 at 23:59 MHQ (GMT -6)! More details about EVERYTHING will be posted throughout the week, so watch this blog.

We’ve heard feedback around the world, and this February will be a global effort in both sportsmanship & Munzee games! To pull together as a Munzee community, here are the February Clan War Weapon goals:

As you can see, we’re taking this Clan War to an Olympic level. Will you rise as a champion? The Clan War recruiting period will open February 1st and end February 3rd when this war officially begins at 00:01 MHQ time (GMT -6). Clans must contain 10 members in order to qualify for each prize and ALL 10 members must meet the point level to earn the prize.

Get ready for a very intense February, we’re giving you the details now so you can get your “Dream Team” assembled!

“Have fun, because that’s what life is all about.” – Laid-back U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte.

For those who don’t know, January 26th is Australia Day, a national celebration amongst our friends down under! This celebration is similar to national, patriotic holidays for other countries. Australia takes it one step further with celebrations that reflect the diverse society and landscape of the nation, marked by community and family events, reflections on Australian history, official community awards, and citizenship ceremonies welcoming new immigrants into the Australian community. They even have an “Australian of the Year” award (click here to learn more).

Team Munzee wants to celebrate all the special Aussie players in the Munzee community! On January 24th, at 10am MHQ time, we’ll be launching special icons worldwide in honor of our Australian players. These might be a familiar sight for most Australians, but we want to share the kangaroo around the world:

Here’s the details:

Icon launch at 10am MHQ time (will take up to 2 hours for all icons to show on map).

Icons disappear from the map January 27th (10am MHQ time).

While normal ‘Roos like to bounce around, these little guys are Static! Once they are captured, they will not bounce someplace else.

Only One capture per ICON. AND THEN IT IS GONE FOREVER. First to capture wins the icon.

Points earned: 25 for capture and 10 for the Munzee owner.

Only appear on the greenies!

May be captured if they show up on Munzees you have already capped.

No special map. However, “specials only” filters are available in app and online for premium members.

This is a quick little shout-out to our friends down under, so no special badge for capture, just a special icon for your list. We hope you all enjoy Aussie Day, and have fun cappin’ all the Kangaroos!

This episode we talk about Munzee kits -with regards to how everyone carries their Munzee while they are out deploying. If you’ve got other creative Munzee kits you’ve created, be sure to share those ideas with us! Check out this link to see all the neat ideas shared with everyone:

This week’s player of the week is a special player that Team Munzee’s very own TeeJayoo had the pleasure of meeting recently! He’s an all around exciting guy, and we’re excited to feature him for this week’s Player of the Week! Everyone, meet Manny:

Are you excited already? Well, read below and get to know Munzee player Doublestuff!

Who are you? Doublestuff

Where in the world do you live? Grafton, MA USA

How long have you played Munzee? 1 year & 5 months this Friday (Editor’s note: Happy Anniversary!!!)

How did you find Munzee?

To be honest, I came across Munzee completely by accident, and I’m glad I did! I have been a recreational ‘cacher for years. My daughter attends ISU in Ames, IA. We often fly to Milwaukee from Boston and take my in-laws van and drive out to Ames, I would cache at each of our destinations.

Have you heard of the show American Pickers? Well our family loves the show. After getting hooked on AP I found out that their shop Antique Archaeology was located in LeClaire IA, just across the Mississippi river. We would drive right by the place 5 mins off the highway. Sure enough there was a cache on location, I made a point to stop on our way to Ames find the cache and maybe meet Mike, Frank and Danielle. We stopped on our way out tons of muggles and they were closed doing their indoor shots for the show. (didn’t see any cast members). On our way back from dropping our daughter at ISU, AA just closed but the cache and letterbox (in the trunk of the 1959 Nash) was wide open as we approached. Since there was nobody around any more I got to look at and trade all sorts of SWAG and Travel Bugs. On thing that caught my eye was a business card with Mike and Frank’s face on it, it said Welcome to American Pickers Munzee and stated to scan the code with a smart phone. So I did, it brought me to the app which I downloaded and back on the road we went. I created my account and the rest is history.

Once we got back to Milwaukee, I found a few Munzees to cap while I cached with my brother-in-law and got him started. As soon as I got back to Grafton I started really searching. There wasn’t that many in the area, about 10 or so. They all belonged to RAWHYD and one was only 5 mins from my house. I capped that one on the way back home from the Airport. I didn’t even notice the virtual at the airport. Now I have 3 virts at the airport and other have deployed virts at the other terminals as well. I started to cap the ones close by and branched out from there. THere were not many when I started but in that first year, the Massachusetts Munzee map grew 1000 fold and I am very happy. Now, I try to grow the map in towns were there are no Munzees, maybe some day I’ll get a cap on one of those deploys. It has been only 17 months and I have capped and deployed in several states, I Munzee everywhere I go. I have greenies in Spain, virts all over the world. I am currently at level 87 and do not intend on stopping. This year I intend to deploy greenies in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. I now Munzee more than I cache and am a more active Munzeer than I ever was a cacher.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?

Munzee is universal, you can deploy and cap in an Urban setting, something that’s getting harder to do in caching. Anyone with a smartphone can do it which opens it up to any age group and any physical ability. In caching you maybe limited to terrain 1 or 2., which there are not that many. It is easy to play, especially to deploy (just follow the rules, no strict approval process) you can create your own QR codes, you can buy generics for deploy) no more Tupperware or ammo cans. In the winter you don’t have to go on long hikes in the snow, in the woods, I guess the same holds true in the summer (no bugs). I enjoy the competition (clan wars), the recreation (cap while out shopping) and the challenge (getting those icons). I like the how MHQ is coming up with different types of Munzees, quiz, motel, etc. The Virts are the best of all, now you really can send people to interesting places, where a physical sticker, tag or a cache container is not a good idea. I also enjoy when MHQ goes out in the playing field to meet the players (don’t ever loose that part)! I met up with TeeJayOoo and Zoolander and some local Munzee players during their visit to Hartford and I look forward to attending the one in Boston this year.

What is on your wish list?

I would like to see virts have a bigger deploy and cap points since they’re price point is higher than regular Munzee. I have suggested that as the price of the “purchased” Munzee goes up the points should as well. I would also like to seen another increase (thanks for the first one) in the number of undeployed Munzees a premium user can have, maybe added in incremental parts as your premium membership gets renewed. Regarding premium renewals, is there anyway to make that automatic? I would also like to see a moving Munzee that I can put on my car, or maybe on shirt, cap or bag. It can be a sticker or a patch. that has points. That would go a long way in getting more exposure.

Tell us about yourself!

My real name is Manny Orejola, I am Filipino, born in the USA, a “Navy brat”. My parents are both imigrants to the US and I grew up mostly down south on different Naval bases. I am married with 2 children, my wife is Polish, born in Nebraska. My eldest I talked about earlier at ISU, and my son is a senior in HS. My son and wife have both started to Munzee recreational basis. I have introduced Munzee to two of my brother-in-laws. One is very active in the game, and the other is a casual player. Before Munzee I was a ‘cacher. I got introduce to ‘caching through the Boy Scouts, it’s funny how
Munzee also got exposure via Scouting as well at the Order of the Arrow conference. I teach ‘caching to the scouts and adult leaders at the distric level. I am also a Geocaching Merit badge counselor. I look forward to teaching Munzee to the scouts as well, right now a couple of pages in my Geocaching presentation is dedicated to Munzee.

People sometimes ask how I came up with doublestuff as my name. When I was in the Army, everyone would have a hard time pronouncing my last name O-RE-HO-LA, I would be called alphabet all sorts of names but after awhile they started to get it but it only got as far as saying “OREO” like the cookie. From there it morphed to doublesuff-oreo (Oreo was already taken as username in for other scavenger hunts) then just plain doublestuff.

I used to print and laminate my munzees. This made for a slow process. For those starting out it can be frustrating as you can only cap. Now I print my own sticker munzees and have several different skins depending on the deploy. I have a tackle box with all my munzees in it and a card case credit card wallet several munzee skins for those quick deploys.
Being able to print your own or buying from the store is the single thing that allowed me to grow the map at a faster rate and keeps me moving towards the next level. I would recommend anyone
that has a laser printer to buy waterproof labels and print your own. You will see your scores double and triple in no time. I supplement it with generics, metal tags and magnets from the store.

Other hobbies include?

When I am not Munzeeing or caching, I love to cook, and I am a foodie and will eat weird things (I have tried fugu fin in sake and did not die) I am a Food Network fan. I consider myself an amateur chef. I compete and have won in several local chili cookoffs for charity!

This saturday I am competing again for the Appalachian Service Project to raise funds to by materials needed to fix homes of our poorest of the poor in the U.S. (Appalachia) I try to play guitar, ukelele and the cahon. I’ve started to do unique “adventureous” things for my birthday. Sky Diving, Powered Parachute flying, Hot Air Ballooning and last year pilot lessons. I don’t know what I will be doing this year, maybe hang gliding, or bungee jumping.

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com -Please note, this is a super active campaign. We may not be able to get back to everyone, but you’re helping to grow the list of amazing people in the Munzee community!

Scott and Daniel pulled the data, crunched the numbers, and found the lucky Munzee player was Nicklas, who deployed “Dammweg” on January, 5th, 2014!

We’ve been looking forward to this day since July, 2011, and we’re so excited that we’ve reached 1 million Munzee deploys. We couldn’t have done it without our awesome players like Nicklas! Thank you guys so much! This is a milestone we’re happy to have reached.

To celebrate our 1 millionth deploy, Dammweg has been converted to a special Diamond Munzee, and Nicklas received bonus deploy points!

Here’s to another 1 million Munzee deploys! We can’t wait to see how the map and our player community will grow in 2014!

Many players have wanted to create a Munzee event in their area, but faced a few challenges creating and sharing the event with others in their local Munzee community. Well, problem solved! We’ve just launched an Events page, and you can find it at:

You can browse all events going on for a particular month, or scroll to the bottom of the page and narrow down events by region!

Check out this upcoming January Event:

To learn more about an event, just click the highlighted day, and you’ll be redirected to a full info page. Like this one:

If you click “I’m going” the creator of the event will get an accurate head count on all who plan to attend. If you change your mind, just go back to the event, and click “I’m NOT Going!” (the button will be red).

If you have any questions, be sure to check out the handy “Help” section at the bottom of the Events page! This includes some handy info for planning big events, prize options, and special guest appearances from Team Munzee for your event!